Author offers panacea to child sexual abuse

A Nigerian author, Mrs Eky Nwokoro, who wrote the book How To Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, has insisted that in order to address child sexual abuse, it is imperative to effectively enlighten children on the matter.

Speaking at the launch of the book in Lagos recently, she noted that “there is the need to educate children to know that there is what is statutorily called private parts and why they are termed, so that they will know that no other person has the right to touch them.

“Parents should also be friends of their children so that they will easily tell them what has been happening to them. Parents should not shun their children when they complain to them and they must take necessary action.”

Nwokoro, a survivor of child sexual abuse, also suggested that one of the ways school administrators could avoid child sexual abuse in their schools is to have proper check on the teachers, proper information about their background and know the reason why a particular teacher leaves the former school in order to detect probably he was sacked for same reason.

According to her: “The job of a teacher is next to that of a pastor, the person that should be recruited into teaching should not be judged based on paper certificate only, but someone found to be morally sound. School management should do background check of the person to avoid employing teachers with questionable characters.

Commenting on the book, she stated that the decision to write the book became necessary because of the endemic nature child sexual abuse has assumed in the society. “This book provides insight and enlightens the readers about the prevalence and dangers of child sexual abuse. I try to examine the impact of child sexual abuse on the victims, their families and the society at large and offer hope for families who have been affected”, she said.

Chairman of the event, Dr Uche Ogah, said people need to be informed adding that most parents, guardians and care-givers are not informed, and that is why child sexual abuse is becoming prevalent in the society.

“We need to watch out for our children, information will make parents to be at alert and anybody can be a victim, the fact from research shows that over 90 percent of abusers are people known to the child, they are not strangers and anybody can be a suspect,” he said.